Photo/Illutration Prime Minister Fumio Kishida speaks at a meeting on Dec. 22 to discuss how to move Japan toward a carbon-neutral future. (Koichi Ueda)

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s Cabinet is preparing for a major change in its nuclear policy that would mean utilizing the energy source much more and far into the future.  

The basic direction for bringing about a green transformation toward a carbon-neutral future will be using nuclear energy as much as possible, according to the draft of a proposal for nuclear energy policy compiled on Dec. 22.

This would alter provisions in place since the triple meltdown at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant in 2011.

It means that not only will nuclear reactors be allowed to operate 60 years after they started operations, constructing new nuclear plants will again be on the table.

A meeting on Dec. 22 to discuss the move toward a carbon-neutral society by 2050 saw the approval of the draft, and the Cabinet is expected to give its approval early next year.

After the Fukushima disaster, the government stance had been that it was not considering building new nuclear plants.

Under the new basic policy direction draft, however, constructing next-generation nuclear plants would be considered when a reactor is to be decommissioned. The draft also calls for considering adding new reactors to existing nuclear plants.

The other major change pertains to the operating life of reactors.

A new rule after the Fukushima disaster was that reactors would only be allowed to operate for 40 years, with a one-time extension of 20 years, at most.

While that broad outline will remain in place, any operational stoppages for safety checks or because of court orders for a temporary injunction on operations would not be counted toward the maximum 60 years.

There will also be a change in when the Nuclear Regulation Authority conducts safety inspections.

Until now, the NRA conducted an inspection after 40 years, and operations could only resume with approval from it.

But the economy ministry will decide in the future if nuclear reactors should continue operating from the standpoint of electricity supply and to move toward a carbon-neutral society.

The NRA will begin its safety inspections before a reactor reaches 30 years of operations and conduct such inspections every 10 years thereafter.

The Cabinet's push for a new reliance on nuclear power follows its decision last week to move away from an exclusively defensive posture in national security.

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